Gator Lift Plywood Carrier

Great for wood rip threw plasterboard though but we'll made

The bar that supports the handle and connect to the main vise part of the lift should have been 2 bars on either side as your fingers have to straddle on either side of the pretty thick bar when holding the handle. Making it pretty uncomfortable to use which completely nullifies the point of using something like this to making this easier.

I wanted to wait for a little while of using the product before leaving a review. This has to to with weight and heavy use. The durability is good so far and its going into a month of routine daily use. The package arrived promptly, I like that I was emailed to see how the product was doing for us and to let them know if we needed them. I removed one star because occasionally it doesn't grab properly and you have to shake it. This isn't often at all its happened like 4 or 5 times in a month of constant use. Overall this is a great product for the price.

This thing works on almost anything just know your material. Wood and sheetrock is a no-brainer but I need to carry a lot of different types of material for a sign business and its very important not to drop them. I wanted to be able to pick and carry straight up from the floor as to not clip a corner and ruin the sign. So, I'm picking many plastic panels like Sintra and Acrylic but also veneered plastics with wood or aluminum and it works great. I can even pick three or four thin heavy panels and they don't drop. It helped with breaking down cardboard to carry to the trash.However, I did drop a large panel of 090 Aluminum. It slipped right out due to the weight and slick surface and caught myself with a right cross to the forehead. It was worth a try and at least I didn't damage the Aluminum but made a hell of a racket. I'm not sure I would be confident to carry a sign up a ladder with I would with plywood.Good product at a good price

The paddle on the back must be carefully aligned with the sheetrock. If it's not aligned properly the paddle will break the sheetrock. Seems like a spring would be a nice addition to the tool because as it is the paddle will misalign without one hand holding it in place as you lift.

I tried using this for a commercial job, carrying 5/8" sheetrock panels that are 4' x 12'. I cannot recommend it. The panels are too heavy (~106 lbs) for a single man to carry long distances because the hard handle of this carrier presses all the panel's weight into a narrow part of the palm of one hand. And you must lift and carry the panel with your arm flexed up at the elbow. The normal way of carrying panels by hand (or with one of the plastic carriers that hooks under the panel) means you are able to hang the weight from your downstretched arm. Having the fat square-cornered aluminum bar of this carrier between your fingers doesn't help.It's also difficult to maneuver a 12' panel around corners and up & down stairs with this carrier because you are suspending it from the center of the panel, which means you have 6 feet of panel in front of you and 6 feet behind you that you have to swing around or tilt up/down (while trying to avoid hitting anything).The biggest problem with this carrier is that its design forces ONLY ONE person to lift and carry a panel by himself; the weight cannot be shared by another person (and having two people carrying a long panel at each end makes it much easier to maneuver). The reason for this is that this carrier works by gravity leverage: the weight of the panel creates the clamping force required to keep the panel from slipping out. If you were to have a second person try to help lift and carry the panel (using a second one of these carriers or any other method, including just by hand), once some of the panel's weight is taken off this carrier, it will lose its grip and drop the panel.This may be OK for lightweight 1/2" x 4' x 8' sheetrock panels (~47 lbs), although I'd be concerned about the thin, tapered edge of the sheetrock cracking or breaking from the small clamping patch of this tool. And you will still have the same issues with lifting the panel with your arm up instead of arm down, the handle pressing into your palm, the fat bar between your fingers, and difficulty going up or down stairs.I gave it two stars because the construction of this carrier is very sturdy and it does hold sheets as designed.